Thursday, 31 October 2013

I love Hallow e'en! Tonight when I get home from work I will definitely be watching Rocky Horror Picture Show(a yearly tradition), I already watched Hocus Pocus yesterday(Bette Midler and Sarah Jessica Parker as witches? Yes please!).

So here is the mani I am rockin' on this most awesome holiday.

I started with 1 coat of OPI's Alpine Snow for my base. Once that had dried I created a gradient using Alpine Snow, Essie's Fear or Desire, and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightning. Over that I put 2 coats of Fantasy Makers Glow in the Dark polish(I tried to get the China Glaze Ghoulish Glow but my Sally's was all sold out). I then coated this in SV and let dry for a very long time before I did my stamping.

I used Bundle Monster BMH07 for the Trick or Treat image and BMH06 for the jack o'lanterns.

This does glow in the dark but it works best if you use a flashlight to charge the polish, and it doesn't stay very long. But I enjoy the effect.

That is all for today, I will be back tomorrow with the 33DC Two Pattern mani.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

I have my Hallow e'en themed mani for the Falling for Nail Art Challenge.

I started with 2 coats of Orly's RIP, a black jelly base filled with orange hex glitter and micro glitter.

Once this dried I used the Bundle Monster BMH07 for the Hallow e'en text using Konad White.

This was my first time using Orly's RIP since I bought it this spring and what I have noticed about Orly glitter is that their suspension base is slightly too thin and the glitters settle to the bottom, I have the same problem with other Orly glitters I own.

That is all for today, I will be back tomorrow with my Hallow e'en Challenge mani.

So using my favourite brand was really difficult for me because I love so many of the polish brands that I have. I love A England, but I only have a few polishes, the same with Picture Polish(I only have one), Lucky 13 Lacquer is amazing but I like to wear it alone because the polish is so pretty. It ended up being a toss up between OPI and China Glaze. I love the formula for OPI but I find that China Glaze has more interesting colours. So I finally decided on China Glaze.

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze's Foie Gras. I love this colour, its rich and reminds me of dark milk chocolate. It's got enough cool tone to not look like poo, it has a slight purple tone to it.

Once that was dry I used China Glaze's Swing Baby, a antique copper glitter, that works well for creating a gradient.

These colours work together really well. I think it is a sophisticated and delicate mani.

Tuesday, 29 October 2013

Today I have my Skulls and Skeletons mani for the Hallow e'en Challenge I am involved in, only one more left people!

I started with my base of 2 coats of Gosh's Holographic Hero. This is a silver holographic polish(as usual my camera had fits and did not want to show the sparkle, but you can see a bit on the pinkie).

As always I topped with SV and let dry before I did my stamping.

I used Konad black stamping polish and my new Bundle Monster, create your own plate BM413 for all the stamping except for my middle finger which is from BMH07.

I am really loving how original the new Bundle Monster set is, which of course it should be considering how it was assembled. I love the Skeleton.

For some reason I am really into black, grey and silver mani's right now so I really liked this one.

Monday, 28 October 2013

Today I have my South American mani for the 33DC. This was another theme that I struggled with but this time Google was my friend. My inspiration was a combination of a couple of different prints I found.

I started by painting 2 halves of my fingers with OPI's A Roll in the Hague, the other 2 halves with Color Club's Bright Night, and the other 2 halves in OPI's Don't Talk Bach to Me and Color Club's Mambo.

Once that had dried I used Wet n'Wild's Ebony Hates Chris to create my center, with a white Nubar striper inside that.

It's not my favourite of the designs I did for this challenge but I liked it better than I thought I would.

That is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my Hallow e'en Challenge Skulls and Skeleton's mani.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Today I have my Other Realm mani for the Falling for Nail Art Challenge. In terms of other realm I decided to go with ghosts...that seems other realm-y to me.

I started with a base of Wet n'Wild's Ebony Hates Chris to give me a nice start before adding a coat of OPI's Metallic 4 Life.

I love the silver glitter in various sizes and the black jelly base for this. It kind of looks other realm-y even before the ghost. It would be good for a galaxy mani too.

I did the ghost on my accent finger in OPI's Alpine Snow and the details with a black striper. I find the ghost looks like the ghost from an old Mario Brothers game. As usual I top coated in SV(its a good thing I buy the large bottle to refill, otherwise it would be super expensive).

That's all for today. I will be back tomorrow with my 33DC mani for South America.

Saturday, 26 October 2013

I was browsing through my local Walmart earlier this week and stumbled upon the new Sally Hansen Triple Shine display! Me being the nail polish addict that I am, I could not resist getting 2 to try out. I decided to limit myself to 1 creme and one glitter, to get a sample of both. The colours that I got are, Kelp Out, a bright leaf green creme, and Fanta-Sea, a silver and ice blue glitter.

I started by swatching Kelp Out. The instructions on the bottle say to do 2 coats...but this is what 2 coats looked like on my nails.

2 coats equals definite VNL and I can't do that, my OCD kicks in and makes me want to take it all off. So I decided to add another coat....and this is when the magic happened.

Yes! This is what I was looking for. I love this colour! It is so bright and cheerful, it reminds me of new leaves in the spring, not at all like Kelp, I've seen kelp and that stuff is usually much more brown than this. The formula, besides being a 3 coat-er was smooth and creamy. I don't think I have a similar colour in my collection. The Triple Shine bottles have the same brush that the Insta-Dri do so it takes very few brush strokes because the brush is so wide(these photos show zero cleanup, this polish stays where you want it and doesn't flood the cuticles).

Now for Fanta-Sea.

On my pinky I have 1 coat, ring is 2 coats, middle is 3 coats, and pointer is 4 coats. I did not do this over a base colour because I wanted to show the true colour of the polish without influence.

As you can see, this polish isn't really meant to be worn alone. It would take way more coats than I have patience for to achieve opacity. I am really looking forward to seeing what this looks like over undies, I think I may go dark, like a navy polish. I may show something like that in the future.

Overall, besides the misleading instructions on the bottles(neither of these polishes are 2 coat-ers), I am rather impressed with this new line. My photos are taken showing the polish by itself, no top coat! They are super shiny! I have only swatched so far, I have not done a wear test, that may come in the future.

And now, for a mani I rocked for almost a week!

Ahh! Empty hand!

As you can see, this photo was taken before the sun disappeared from the skies and we were left in darkness. This is a few days in so you can see some legitimate tip wear(normally my mani comes off way before wearing can occur) but I love this Bird plate from Messy Mansion! The feathers look drawn on and sketchy and I love that.

That is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with the next theme in the Falling for Nail Art Challenge.

Friday, 25 October 2013

Today I have my 33DC Animal nails to share with you. I really liked these nails and will probably end up doing them again.

I started with a base of Barry M's Blue Moon, a light blue with a faint blue shimmer that does not translate on the nail, good formula, self levels in 2 coats. I coated with SV and let dry before I did my first layer of stamping. I stamped the lines to look like grass using Bundle Monster plate BM319 and Sally Hanson 's Insta-Dri in Lickety-Split Lime. I then let that dry and stamped over top using GALS plates 27, 32, 45, and 46 with Konad Black for the animals.

I really loved how crisp this is. What is really funny is I could never get those animal images to stamp clearly before. I don't know if it is because I am more practiced now of because of the stamping polish(before I was just trying to use regular polish) but I am really pleased with these.

That is all for today but I think tomorrow I will post my first impressions and review of the Sally Hanson's Triple Shine(I got 2 from my local Walmart and felt the need to share).

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Today I have my Zombie mani for the Hallow e'en Challenge. I struggled with an idea for this one for a bit. Zombies are rather difficult to draw and none of my stamping plates were appropriate.

I started with a base of 2 coats of OPI's Don't Talk Bach to Me, this is an interesting colour, a yellow-y green with a slight shimmer. I like it more than I thought I would.

My ring finger is 3 coats of China Glaze's Innocence with random splotches of Ciate's Cream Soda, outlined with a black striper. I was trying to make it look like brains but I don't know if I managed it.

On the tips of my other fingers I put 1 coat of OPI's Did it On 'Em, this works much better over Don't Talk Bach to Me than white for a base coat. I went over the edge between the two colours with a striper and made them look like stitches.

This picture is more colour accurate.

And Matte, because you know, I am addicted. Although I think the brains look better glossy.

That is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my 33DC for the theme Animals, I really liked these so I hope you do too.

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

For this post I have my Bump in the Night mani. I got a little stumped on this one, couldn't really get any inspiration so I pulled out my handy stamping plates and this is what I came up with.

I used various Bundle Monster plates, BM305 and BMH08 over a base of Wet n' Wild's Ebony Hates Chris and stamped with Essie's No Place Like Chrome. The only part of this that I like are the bats, they are cool.

That is all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my next Hallow e'en Challenge.

Today I have my Abstract mani for the 33DC. I started with 2 coats of Ciate's Cream Soda, a lovely mid-tone gray with a slight beige tinge. I added a coat of SV and let dry to get ready for stamping. I then used Bundle Monster BM301 plate and Sally Hanson's Insta-Dri in Lightning.

I actually really like how this turned out. The thickness of the SV made the stamping seem to almost float above the base layer. I like the contrast between the gray and the brightness of the yellow.

It's a little subtle from far away but when you look close it was pretty cool.

That's all for this post, I will be back in a bit with my Falling for Nail Art Challenge.

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Today I have my Spider Web nails to show you. This one is all freehand, spiders have too many legs, freehand was a pain.

I used 3 coats of OPI's Did It On 'Em, from the Nicki Minaj Collection, great colour, love chartreuse but horrible formula. This polish is rather sheer for a creme colour, even when you do a white base it still takes 3 coats. My accent finger is OPI's Number One Nemesis, from the Amazing Spiderman collection(love the sparkle), and is a kind of dirty, sparkly charcoal. This took 3 coats as well but I could have stopped at 2 with slight VNL and this formula was not streaky.

I used a black striper and Wet n' Wild's Ebony Hates Chris and various size dotting tools for the spiders.

In other news I got exciting nail mail today! My Bundle Monster 2013 stamping set arrived! So excited about so many of the plates! There's a sea horse! and a double helix! Love, love, love.

I will be back tomorrow for double up day, with 33DC mani, Abstract, and Falling for Nail Art, Bump in the Night.

Monday, 21 October 2013

Today I have my mani for the 33DC theme of Chinese. I was originally going to use my Bundle Monster Chinese New Year plate but in the end I decided to freehand instead. I started with 2 coats of my favourite white, OPI's My Boyfriend Scales Walls from the Amazing Spiderman Collection. I waited for that to dry and then started in with my Black striper.

I added random flower petals using Essie's Raisinnuts and dotted Barielle Shades Fancy Pantsy in the centers. I really enjoyed these cherry blossoms.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Today I have my Creepy Crawlers mani from the Falling for Nail Art Challenge. There are certain bugs the, forgive me, really bug me and give me the shivers. I decided to portray a few of these in today's mani.

I started with 2 coats of Essie's Bordeaux, the same polish I used for the blood in my Blood mani but now you can see what it looks like over the whole nail.

In the photo you can see a slight VNL but this was not noticeable in real life. Over this intense red cream I free handed a number of creepy crawly bugs.

Nothing creeps me out more than things that have more legs than are absolutely necessary to get around with(except for the wacky wavy inflatable flailing tube man, that thing is just wrong). The one of these critters that gets me the most is the millipede, no one needs that many legs. On my accent finger I used Essie's No Place Like Chrome, a favourite for stamping, using Bundle Monster's BMH07 plate. I used Wet n' Wild Ebony Hates Chris and Nubar's Black striper for the freehand work.

In slight shade

This shot gives you a better idea of what the web looks like, I love how the chrome stands out against the crimson.

That's all for today but I will be back tomorrow with my next mani for the 33DC, Chinese.

Friday, 18 October 2013

Today's theme for the 33DC is a pattern in our home and at first I was a little stumped. Most of the textile items in the house tend to be solid or plaid and I wasn't really interested in doing plaid since I recently did Burberry nails for my sister. I sat on the floor and looked around for a bit. It finally hit me in the face...wood! My dad was an amazing wood builder and almost everything in the house was made by him(most of the time with me acting as his second pair of hands and all around gopher). The table that I do my nails on, my tv console, book cases, bed, and half of our house are just a few things that my Dad built over the years. Even after he got sick and could barely make it up the hill to the garage, he was still making things.

So in a way this mani is a bit of a tribute to my Dad.

My pointer and ring fingers are 2 coats of OPI's My Private Jet(chocolate brown with scattered holo and silver flecks, yes please!) and my middle and pinky are 2 coats Revlon's Elegant(a cream-y nude, good coverage, good formula). I topped this with SV and let dry.

Once dry I pulled out my handy stamping equipment and GALS GA12 and Klean Color Metallic Yellow and Metallic Brown for stamping.(Have I mentioned how original I find the Klean Color polish names to be?)

You can see a bit of the table behind my hand

You can see the wood grain better here. I didn't have a colour that was a good enough match to that specific varnish but the house has both dark, light, in between, and red woods.

That is all for this post. I will be back on Sunday with the next theme in the Falling For Nail Art Challenge, which is Creepy Crawlers. I may do a post on Saturday but it depends how I feel when I get home from work.

Thursday, 17 October 2013

Today I have my Blood mani for you from the Hallow e'en Challenge I am involved in. I know a lot of the other ladies are going pretty gruesome with this so I decided to go in the other direction and went gruesome-pretty.

I began this with 2 coats of Color Club's Beyond(Oh My Glob, love that holographic amazingness), this is one of the most holographic polishes I own, but I have to say I love all the Color Club Holo's that I have, I am missing a few:( I top coated with SV as usual and then pulled out my trusty dotting tools. I created the dripping blood on my ring and pinky using Essie's Bordeaux and used that same polish and Bundle Monster BM311 to create the blood spray. I love that Bordeaux is a jelly polish and because of this you can see the holograph from Beyond through it. How cool is that?

This photo shows even more of the amazing holographic properties of this polish. I am so in love, you better believe this will be coming out often this winter, and not just for stamping, although all the Color Club Holo's stamp really well.

Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Now on to the double of the double up Wednesday with my 33DC 3D mani. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of 3D mani's, mostly because I do too much with my hands in a day and never feel like studs and beads and the like are going to stay very long. With this in mind I went very simple with this mani, and the 3D is more of an accent than a focus.

I started with A England's Lady of Shallot(again, still loving this polish).

Yes this is the same photo from yesterday, but it is sooo pretty!

After this gorgeous polish dried I sponged over it with A England's Saint George (this is another amazing colour from A England, so deep, so pretty!).

Holographic sparkle, come to me!

Love this colour just as much, if not more than Lady of Shallot. For the 3D aspect I added some opalescent pearls in purple that I got in my prize from a My Boyfriend Hates Makeup giveaway. They extend out from the nail too far for me and because of this, I took this mani off very quickly. I will have to do another A England gradient for you soon, maybe Saint George and Dragon(together again, as they should be), we will see what comes later. I know the polish is slightly out of focus in this photo but this showed more of the holographic sparkle.

That is all for today. I will be back tomorrow with another Hallow e'en challenge mani. This time it is Blood and/or Gore.